DURBAN, SOUTH AFRICA – DECEMBER 28: Miguel Cardoso, head coach of Mamelodi Sundowns during the Betway Premiership match between Richards Bay and Mamelodi Sundowns at King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium on December 28, 2024 in Durban, South Africa. (Photo by Darren Stewart/Gallo Images)
Mamelodi Sundowns head coach Miguel Cardoso says the quality of his players guided the side to victory over Richards Bay.
Sundowns cemented top spot in the Betway Premiership after defeating Richards Bay 2-0 on Saturday afternoon.
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The Portuguese tactician was happy to get maximum points after the tough conditions at King Goodwill Zwelithini Stadium.
“Tough game, I’m happy obviously for the result and the satisfaction of watching our fans happy and the work our players did but very difficult conditions to play, the pitch very dry,” Cardoso said on SuperSport.
“It was obvious that many moments we wanted to play but difficult to play, anyway we had the attitude, the patience and the quality in certain moments to define the game. It’s important that you use your moments.
“Obviously we can do better but praise the players for the effort, the commitment and the attitude to keep on playing on very difficult conditions.”
Cardoso also explained their approach to the last three games and dealing with their opponents long-ball tactics.
“We would like to be very aggressive in the moment we lose the ball, to attack immediately the ball. The question is, in the last three games we played in the championship, the teams don’t hold the ball, they just want to kick it in the front,” he continued.
“So it’s very difficult, when you want to press, they are already putting the ball on the flanks or at the back of your defence. It’s quite tricky, so we need also to understand how tricky the situations can be, deal with them.
“Don’t be naive, because when you’re naive, you will suffer goals from this kind of a game. Very difficult, we needed to be very active in rest defence to balance the team and we did it and need to continue, in the right games we will be able to be strong to win the ball when we lose it.”
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